2019 was the seventh warmest year on record in 118 years: IMD
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), despite recording the second coldest December in 118 years, 2019 was the seventh warmest year on record since 1901. Moreover, the average temperature during the monsoon season from ...

Centre approves Atal Bhujal Yojana, worth Rs 6,000 croreConsidering the acute groundwater shortage in the country, the Union Cabinet has approved the Atal Bhujal Yojana with a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore to manage the critical resources of water through multiple activities.
The scheme, that wi...

Droughts are becoming common in India
India has a long history of droughts. There were 26 major droughts from 1870 to 2018, when the All India Summer Monsoon Rainfall (AISMR) was found to be lesser than the mean rainfall for the country. Even the most recent drought was disastrous for India, affect...

This compendium by Mihir Kumar Maitra is a valuable resource for all practitioners engaged in watershed management activities in the field. The first part of the book addresses the technical and engineering aspects useful in developing natural resources like land, surface water, groundwater, crops a...

Green signal to Kalasa-Banduri project heldThe Environment Ministry has put on hold the clearances granted to the Karnataka government for the Kalasa-Banduri project, as it is awaiting the judgement of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT), to which both governments of Goa and Karnataka had fil...

Panel expresses displeasure over slow pace of Namami Gange
In its latest report, the parliamentary committee has expressed its disappointment over the pace of flagship projects like Namami Gange programme and urged the Jal Shakti ministry to step up its performance on groundwater management, aquife...

Ensure 100 percent treatment of sewage entering rivers: NGT to authorities
Taking note of polluted rivers in the country, the National Green Tribunal has ordered local bodies and concerned departments to ensure 100 percent treatment of sewage entering rivers across the country, by March 31st 2020. ...

A new study finds that introducing coarse cereals such as millet and sorghum could improve India’s national food supply in many ways. The study by the Data Science Institute at Columbia University found that India’s agricultural policies have largely focused on the single objective of maxim...

The National Mission for Cleaning Ganga was set up in 2014 and the Namami Gange programme was launched the year after, with a budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore. The implementation of the flagship programme was followed by the framing of a draft National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Mana...

While climate activists and world leaders were gathering in Paris in the first week of December 2015 to discuss the impact of climate change, the metropolis Chennai in the southern corner of India was inundated with floods. The worst flood to hit the region in over 100 years took the lives of more t...

Droughts in India: types, causes and effects
Droughts are greatly feared in India, impacting food production, the economy and the livelihoods of millions of farmers. 60% of India’s population is engaged in agriculture.
So what is a drought? A drought can be defined as “An extended period—a...

MoU signed for groundwater management through community intervention
The Central Groundwater Board (CGWB), Department of Water Resources, Western Sydney University, Australia and others have signed an MoU for the project MARVI (Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Villag...

Cyclone Bulbul causes devastation in West Bengal and Odisha
Hitting the coast of India and Bangladesh on November 9th, the deadly Cyclone Bulbul has claimed twenty lives, displaced two million people and destroyed houses in West Bengal and Bangladesh. The storm brought torrential rains and strong w...

A majority of India’s water problems are those relating to groundwater—water that is found beneath the earth’s surface. This is because we are the largest user of groundwater in the world, and therefore highly dependent on it. At just over 260 cubic km per year, our country uses 25 p...

Pune continues to face a water crisis every summer despite having sufficient water, thanks to its geographical location and plentiful natural water assets. While enough of its water needs are taken care of by water supply from the Khadakwasla dam, the use of groundwater to meet the needs of the popu...

Soon a national framework for e-flows in all major rivers
To ensure minimum and uninterrupted flow of water round-the-year in rivers across the country, the government is working to have a national framework for implementation and monitoring of e-flows (environmental flows) in all major rivers. The...

Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in North East India is also known as the ‘floating lake’ for the numerous phumdis or masses of vegetation it supports. The phumdis float around on the lake’s surface due to decay from the bottom. Some are so large that the indigenous fishing folk Meitei...

Study finds Pune's groundwater extraction doubles in 9 years
A survey conducted by the Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM) with assistance from the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Mission Groundwater, reveals that groundwater extraction in Pune has do...

Monsoon’s withdrawal likely to begin around October 10: IMD
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), although the southwest monsoon officially ends on September 30th, the monsoon’s withdrawal is likely to begin only around October 10th - the most delayed withdrawal since 1961 (October ...

Technology and crowdsourced data need to play a greater role in disaster management in India.

With the rise in frequency and intensity of unexpected disasters, the need for effective communication technologies such as the use of social and mobile tools seems to be growing for responding to disaster situations in emergency, rescue and relief efforts. COVID-19 has been declared as ‘notified disaster’ by the central government recently in a move it called “a special one-time dispensation”, to contain the spread of the infectious virus.

How different populations face different levels of risk and vulnerability during disasters?

Parasite, the South Korean movie released in 2019 has gained attention worldwide especially after its historical win at the Oscars 2020. The film takes on two different worlds co-existing in a country but set apart by class and wealth. The introduction of the Kim family living in a semi-basement in ‘that’ part of the city characterized as suffocated, cramped and sub-standard straightaway exposes the audience to their ‘immediate’ social vulnerabilities.

Much of the Mahanadi's deltaic coast is experiencing varying degree of erosion, a situation which is expected to worsen by 2050.

The Mahanadi delta in Odisha is a composite delta fed by water, sediments and nutrients from a network of three major rivers: Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarini. The coastline of the delta is approximately 200 km long, extending from the Chilika lagoon in the south to the Dhamara river in the north. It has five coastal districts - Puri, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak which constitute 83% of the delta area and have large areas below the five metre contour where floods due to cyclones and sea-level rise are common.

The Karnataka Jnana Aayoga (KJA) set up a Task Group to draft a new water policy for Karnataka in December 2017 and the report is now in public domain. What are the suggestions that the report makes?

The water crisis in Karnataka has not only led to severe agrarian distress in the eastern plains region but also created an acute shortage of domestic water, in both rural and urban areas. The 21st century has seen significant changes in demography, economy and agriculture, increasing the demand for water in the state. Expanding irrigation and urbanisation, possibly have also had a negative impact on river basins and water conflicts are seeing a rise in the state. All these developments have substantially complicated and aggravated the water challenges in Karnataka.

A study looks at how households adapt to slow-moving environmental changes such as groundwater depletion.

Like in many parts of India, Karnataka’s groundwater is a vital source of irrigation water, but has been depleted by a combination of a prolonged, multi-year drought and intensive extraction. Worsening agro-climatic and environmental conditions are threatening the incomes of smallholder farmers and hampering the continued progress in poverty eradication.

The new national water policy should take up a comprehensive and integrated view of water resources development with a focus on rainfed areas.

A committee has been constituted to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP) and make key changes in the water governance structure and regulatory framework. It is chaired by Mihir Shah, who is a former Planning Commission member and a water expert. The committee is expected to produce a report within six months. The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network, a pan India network working on evolving operational processes for planning and convergence to facilitate the revival of rainfed agriculture has made its submission to the committee drafting the NWP.